With WildWings Bird Management

Category: Starling

1979 saw the start of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds’ (RSPB) “Big Garden Birdwatch”, during which people are asked to devote one hour observing birds in their gardens during the last weekend January, record all species seen and report the maximum number of each seen at one time (to avoid counting the … More Big Garden Finchwatch

In my book “The Starling” (Oxford University Press), published in 1984 (doesn’t seem like 33 years ago!) I noted the then relatively recent colonisation of Iceland by breeding Starlings. They were first recorded breeding in the south-east of the island, at Hornafjörŏur in 1940 and then in Reykjavic in 1960. This was at a time … More Icelandic colonists from Europe (no, not the Vikings!)

In the 1970s, when undertaking research on Starlings with the then Ministry of Agriculture, most of my winter fieldwork took place near Winchester in Hampshire. During this period of my life I became familiar with the stretch of the River Itchen between New Alresford and Kings Worthy and liked, in particular, the river as it … More Autumn gold and other countryside change – a day by the River Itchen

On 27 October we drove down to Brighton in the hope that Christine could witness a murmuration of Starlings: this is the term used to describe the amazing pre-roosting behaviour of large flocks of Starlings just before they enter their roost sites in the late evening. On a good evening this can be one of … More To murmurate or not to murmurate

“Invasive alien species” (IAS) is the term used to describe animal and plant (and even bacteria, viruses) species that have been deliberately or accidentally introduced to new parts of the world, generally through human a gency, and having been introduced they have the capacity to thrive in their new environments. In so doing they can … More Invasive Alien Species (IAS) – not just on small islands